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Islamic Imperialism

A History

Efraim Karsh

$30.95

Paperback

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English
Yale University
15 September 2013
A fundamental challenge to the way we understand the history of the Middle East and the role of Islam in the region

From the first Arab-Islamic Empire of the mid-seventh century to the Ottomans, the last great Muslim empire, the story of the Middle East has been the story of the rise and fall of universal empires and, no less important, of imperialist dreams. So argues Efraim Karsh in this highly provocative book. Rejecting the conventional Western interpretation of Middle Eastern history as an offshoot of global power politics, Karsh contends that the region’s experience is the culmination of long-existing indigenous trends, passions, and patterns of behavior, and that foremost among these is Islam’s millenarian imperial tradition.

The author explores the history of Islam’s imperialism and the persistence of the Ottoman imperialist dream that outlasted World War I to haunt Islamic and Middle Eastern politics to the present day. September 11 can be seen as simply the latest expression of this dream, and such attacks have little to do with U.S. international behavior or policy in the Middle East, says Karsh. The House of Islam’s war for world mastery is traditional, indeed venerable, and it is a quest that is far from over.
By:  
Imprint:   Yale University
Country of Publication:   United States
Edition:   2nd edition
Dimensions:   Height: 3,277mm,  Width: 5,029mm,  Spine: 2mm
Weight:   340g
ISBN:   9780300198171
ISBN 10:   0300198175
Pages:   304
Publication Date:  
Audience:   General/trade ,  ELT Advanced
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active

Efraim Karsh is professor of Middle East and Mediterranean Studies, King's College, University of London. He has published extensively and often served as a consultant on Middle Eastern affairs, Soviet foreign policy and European neutrality. His books include Palestine Betrayed, Empires of the Sand: The Struggle for Mastery in the Middle East, 1789-1923 and Saddam Hussein: A Political Biography.

Reviews for Islamic Imperialism: A History

Karsh's lively, clearly written and well-researched account should have an appeal beyond an academic audience. The crisp manner with which he disposes of accepted wisdom will delight the reader. And in laying to rest the victim theory, he restores a measure of dignity to the Middle East. -Ralph Amelan, Jerusalem Post -- Ralph Amelan * Jerusalem Post * Only a shrewd and talented revisionist, a professor with curiosity and nerve, could take on the cliches of Middle East scholarship and insist that they be reconsidered. That describes Efraim Karsh, a much-published and much-admired professor at the University of London. His new book, Islamic Imperialism deserves serious consideration by anyone who cares about this debate. He challenges not only our favourite ideas about the Middle East but even our notions of imperialism. . . . Karsh's view of rising Islamic imperialism chills the blood. Multiculturalism looks different through the lens of his scholarship, and so does the future for global politics. -Robert Fulford, Canada National Post -- Robert Fulford * Canada National Post * In Islamic Imperialism Efraim Karsh argues for the existence of an Islamic imperial drive and traces it from Muhammad's time to current Islamist aggressions. One can hardly imagine a thesis with larger implications for prosecuting the war on terror. -Daniel Pipes -- Daniel Pipes


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